From this we can then see a 14.1 per cent decline in construction jobs over the past year, a steady decline in associated apprenticeships and a 3.7 per cent drop in retail jobs, which is reliant on the construction industry.

West Australians are having a rough time, especially young people starting out and people returning to work after, say, having kids.

You might be feeling this yourself. But you are also hopeful, if confused, at the fanfare given to parts of the resources sector.

The investments being announced are likely to take years to be realised. You won’t see jobs being advertised next week for Rio Tinto’s new mine, just as there is a lag in lithium jobs being created.

You should take the employment projections with a grain of salt, because they are likely to change between now and into construction and operation. This is especially true in resources which has shown itself to be one of the most innovative industries being an early stage adopter of automation, especially for entry and early-career jobs.

And, as anyone who has applied for a job in the past five years knows, business is still cautious about hiring permanent staff. Casual and contract workers, across all industries, are incredibly popular.

These are all challenging to begin with, made only more complicated when they are combined together with, while positive, low economic growth.

WA isn’t alone in this experience. This is a global and national development that is changing the structure of jobs. This requires inventive solutions rather than hoping heritage industries will bounce back.

This is not to deny the effort of the state government to stimulate different parts of the economy like in manufacturing, tourism and across regional WA.

WA is challenged by training our workforce for the modern economy that industry wants to hire, building industries with long-term growth opportunities and, most importantly, getting business to put their foot on the pedal.